Outrage has been sparked after West Lothian Council proposed closing two support centres to cut costs.

More than 2100 people have signed a petition to stop the Ability Centre in Livingston closing after the council proposed to shut it and Eliburn Support Services and merge them with Pathways in Livingston to save £2.5 million.

The proposals are part of a consultation to find a £73million shortfall over the next five years but service users say closing the centres would leave people ‘isolated’ and ‘devastated’.

Tracey Morton, who began the petition, has being using the Ability Centre for the last six years and says the centre saved her life.

She said: “The centre is so important to me, it’s the only way I get to socialise and the therapy there is amazing. If it wasn’t for me getting counselling I would have taken my own life.”

Tracey’s thoughts have been echoed by many people who use the centre. Siobhan Herkes, who suffers from MS, began the campaign Save Our Ability Centre West Lothian on Facebook.

Siobhan said: “I’ve being going for five or six months but there’s people that have been there for years and they can be the ones going back to houses with no-one in them.

“They are going back to complete isolation, who are they meant to talk to?”

Gus Forsythe spent a year-and-a-half in the house before he was put in touch with the centre.

He said: “It’s somewhere to go to meet with mates. Everyone I go to meet up with on a Monday is a friend now. If we don’t go there then there’s nowhere for us to go and we’re stuck in the house.”

Gus also volunteers at the centre on a Thursday.

Maureen Wright’s daughter Gillian has suffered from MS for 20 years and she says the only people Gillian knows are through the Ability Centre.

Maureen said: “Gillian has been in tears all week about it. There will be hundreds of people in Livingston just devastated.”

Nancy McMahon’s son Raymond (47) uses the centre after having two brain haemorrhages. Nancy said: “It gives him hope, hope that there’s someone there, that there’s someone to talk to.”

West Lothian Council say that savings need to be made due to the level of funding available to them, rising costs and the "increasing number of adults with complex needs".

A West Lothian Council spokesperson said: “The introduction of Self-directed Support where people assessed as requiring care services can make choices regarding their care packages has led to demand for more personalised options and an increased requirement for outreach services.

“It is therefore proposed that the adult day care facilities provided at three different buildings in Livingston are combined into one location at Quigley House (Pathways), which is also in Livingston, with outreach services being provided in local communities.”

Hannah Bardell, MP for Livingston, said the council could have increased tax revenue instead of cutting services.

"The Ability Centre is a huge local asset, and many people will be affected by the ill-considered proposal to merge three services.

"It’s hugely disappointing to see the council put forward these plans; I say plans because this doesn’t feel like a consultation, it looks like a shopping list of cuts with no further details that would allow people to consider what the council wants to do.

"I will be working with my SNP colleagues at Scottish government and local authority level to lobby West Lothian Council’s council to save this vital facility."

●For the consultation see www.westlothian.gov.uk/transforming. The petition is at www.change.org/p/west-lothian-council-stop-the-ability-centre-in-livingston-from-closing.